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Apple's MacBook revival plan: Bring back old features

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Re: Apple's MacBook revival plan: Bring back old features

#341

Post by [deleted] »

exhilaration wrote: post #262
varispeed wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use SD cards daily to transfer data from cameras or different devices for further processing. It is handy to be able to just slide it in. I also have a dongle in an other laptop which works fine, but you need to be careful with these - I bought one cheaper dongle and it totally destroyed my SD card upon inserting. Unfortunately there was no backup as there was original material on it. So now I first do backup on a…

The dramatic decline in camera sales has been discussed a few times on HN, here's a random google result: https://www.mirrorlessrumors.com/dont-look-at-this-graph-sho... Cameras are rapidly turning into a niche product, it makes no sense for any laptop manufacturer to include an SD card reader at this point.

[deleted]

Re: Apple's MacBook revival plan: Bring back old features

#342

Post by MAGZine »

ashtonkem wrote: post #330
ak217 wrote: post #329

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Keeping it simple" is how we got here. People are unhappy because ports were removed. I want my microSD port back, and I don't think it will hurt you if you don't use it. Even if you pour coffee in it, it will just fuse itself off as long as there's a properly engineered rubber gasket in it. You do bring good points about usb-c/magsafe. I hope they can make magsafe work with the usb-c port.

People were unhappy about the loss of the physical headphone port too .... for a short while. Then most of us went over to Bluetooth and stopped complaining. Sometimes removing ports is dumb, sometimes it’s a smart reflection of what trends are clearly already happening.

Some of us in androidland continue to buy phones specifically because the headphone jack offers a quality of life improvement more than whatever other features are offered in place of the jack.

Re: Apple's MacBook revival plan: Bring back old features

#343

Post by dmitriid »

waheoo wrote: post #243
FractalParadigm wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All kinds of reasons - my biggest one being why MagSafe was invented in the first place; I know my power cord is run across the living room due to a lack of power outlets in my 70-year-old apartment, and gets tripped over regularly. Not to mention a proprietary charger can free up a USB port for additional peripherals.

For those that don't get it, CPUs can only have so many USB-c ports wired up, it's all trade offs. Wiring a charger through different circuitry gives you an extra port. It's also easier to pump more wattage through and tends to be a bit more durable because thicker connectors can be used.

> For those that don't get it, CPUs can only have so many USB-c ports wired up

I don't get it. Why? And how many is "so many"?

Re: Apple's MacBook revival plan: Bring back old features

#344

Post by acd »

I think Apple needs to rethink and design products that are built for serviceability. That means the end user should be able to service most parts of the laptop themselves. No plastic prying tools should ever be needed to service a laptop.

Battery -> User replaceable under a hatch. SSD -> User replaceable RAM -> User replaceable Screen -> User replaceable Motherboard -> User replaceable Keyboard -> User replaceable. Wifi Network card -> User replaceable.

And with that I mean you design to make the product easy to repair. Using standard Philips or torx screws whenever possible.

Current Apple products means using a lots of dongles for what should be built in.

Make repair videos on how to mend broken parts, put those on video sharing platforms like Youtube.

We are having global warming, that needs that all products needs to be easy to repair so that we have less waste on the planet.

Re: Apple's MacBook revival plan: Bring back old features

#345

Post by theonemind »

projektfu wrote: post #321

I can't help but think this leak is bad for Apple's Mac business. It will be a while before these potentially superior Macs will be available, cannibalizing the sales of the existing line. I'm looking to replace my laptop soon and these potential features make me comfortable waiting and seeing. I hope that they would make it chargeable from either the Magsafe or the USB-C, like the Surface.

For all we know, this sort of thing might get leaked intentionally as a middle ground between between annoucing it and keeping it a secret.

The most interested and active users will know about leaked information, and they can put off buying decisions and have greater long term satisfaction. If you bought a machine and 2 months later, exactly what you wanted two months ago comes out, you probably won't enjoy that experience very much.

However, less discriminating users probably both won't know about the leak, and won't find certain things coming out quite as disappointing.

I think it probably works out decently for Apple even if they really don't want the leaks, much the way piracy probably helped Microsoft Windows by helping make it a complete de-factor standard (though Microsoft seemed aware of that and seemed not to crack down as hard as they might for that reason.)

Re: Apple's MacBook revival plan: Bring back old features

#347

Post by mcot2 »

acd wrote: post #344

I think Apple needs to rethink and design products that are built for serviceability. That means the end user should be able to service most parts of the laptop themselves. No plastic prying tools should ever be needed to service a laptop. Battery -> User replaceable under a hatch. SSD -> User replaceable RAM -> User replaceable Screen -> User replaceable Motherboard -> User replaceable Keyboard -> User replaceable.…

Isn’t the RAM basically integrated onto the SoC now?

Re: Apple's MacBook revival plan: Bring back old features

#348

Post by monadic3 »

vemv wrote: post #181

Honestly I've never understood why laptops are so strongly associated with developer culture. They are inefficient and conflated machines - two things that tend to be contradictory with software engineering. More practically, many people find themselves completely dependent on Apple's design whims. Mac Pros (or server racks in general) are closer to the kinds of machines that we deploy to (they use Xeons for one thin…

> They are inefficient and conflated machines - two things that tend to be contradictory with software engineering.

Maybe if you like to write inefficient software :)

Re: Apple's MacBook revival plan: Bring back old features

#349

Post by cpcallen »

mbirth wrote: post #73
MrRiddle wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some, but not most. And cameras have a lot longer life than other tech, so my guess would be that 99% of cameras in use don’t have the ability to connect via USB-C.

Just permanently stick a tiny USB-A to USB-C adapter on the cable and they instantly do have the ability to connect via USB-C. It's that easy!

I haven't directly connected my camera to a computer in over a decade. Card comes out of the camera and goes in the SD card slot on the laptop. So much easier and less fiddly.

Re: Apple's MacBook revival plan: Bring back old features

#350

Post by mcot2 »

BluSyn wrote: post #14

My controversial hot take-- I have never needed an SD card, and have gone all-in on USB-C. I will be very disappointed if they add back in USB-A/HDMI/SD ports, or remove USB-C charging in favor of proprietary charge port. Sounds like unnecessary feature bloat. Please just do MagSage + USB-C, so I can maintain my one-cable-for-everything, making traveling lighter and simpler. Here's my counter argument to all those th…

I agree with MagSafe basically being in the cord after the USB-C connector. That way we can use existing power cords or the new one with MagSafe if we want to.
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